OLD ALPINE JOTTINGS. 431 



lent crags. It is but right to state that the man who 

 first really examined the Matterhorn, in company with 

 a celebrated guide, who came to the conclusion that 

 it was assailable if not accessible, was Mr. Vaughan 

 Hawkins. It was at his suggestion that in August, 1860, 

 I took part in the earliest assault upon this formidable 

 peak. We halted midway, stopped less by difficulty, 

 though that was great, than by want of time. In 1862 

 I made a more determined attack upon the mountain, 

 but was forced to recoil from its final precipice; for 

 time, the great reducer of Alpine difficulties, was again 

 wanting. On that occasion I was accompanied by two 

 Swiss guides and two Italian porters. Three of these 

 four men pronounced flatly against the final precipice. 

 Indeed, they had to be urged by degrees along the sharp 

 and jagged ridge the most savage, in my opinion, on 

 the whole Matterhorn which led up to its base. The 

 only man of the four who never uttered the word 

 " impossible " was Johann Joseph Bennen, the bravest 

 of brave guides, who now lies in the graveyard of 

 Ernan, in the higher valley of the Rhone. We were not 

 only defeated by the Matterhorn, but were pelted down 

 its crags by pitiless hail. 



On the day subsequent to this defeat, while crossing 

 the Cimes Blanches with Bennen, we halted to have a 

 last look at the mountain. Previous to quitting Breuil 

 I had proposed to him to make another attempt. He 

 was adverse to it, and my habit was never to persuade 

 him. On the Cimes Blanches I turned to him and used 

 these words : " I leave Breuil dissatisfied with what we 

 have done. We ought never to have quitted the Matter- 

 horn without trying yonder arete." The ridge to which 

 Bennen's attention was then directed certainly seemed 

 practicable, and it led straight to the summit. There 

 was moisture in the strong man's eyes as he replied, 



